Isabella never expected that in a situation like this, Nicholas would actually step forward and brazenly speak up for Serena.
Karen was his cousin. A member of the Blackwood family!
For Serena's sake, was he willing to disregard the Blackwood family's reputation?
Did he really like Serena that much?
Isabella's heart clenched with frustration. She was so jealous and humiliated she felt like she was going to have a heart attack.
She looked at Karen, standing there ramrod straight, not daring to move, and knew...
now that Nicholas had stepped in, there was no possibility of breaking the bet.
Neither she nor Karen... could escape.
But...
To really make her fulfill this bet in front of so many people?
She'd never be able to hold her head high in this social circle again!
Isabella couldn't even dare to imagine such a scene.
Her eyes brimming with tears, she immediately looked toward the Lancaster family, her voice pitifully pleading, "Grandpa, Mom, Dad, Julian..."
"Can you... can you please plead with Nicholas for me? This bet... I didn't agree to this bet. Can you please ask Nicholas to... to just let it go, please?"
As long as the Lancaster family was willing to speak up and plead for her, Nicholas would surely accommodate the Lancaster family.
This matter had nothing to do with her in the first place.
It was all Karen talking to herself; she hadn't said a single word from beginning to end!
Why should she be the one to fulfill this bet now?
Edward sighed. "Isabella, a bet is a bet."
Isabella's face paled.
What did her father mean? A bet is a bet? Just because the person she bet against was Serena, she was supposed to honor it?
She knew Catherine had always doted on her the most and was the most soft- hearted.
Isabella immediately ran over and grabbed Catherine's hand. "Mom, please help me... If I go through with this bet, it won't just be me who's
humiliated. What about the
reputation.. The
Thes
Lancaster family's come the
Lancaster family will
laughingstock of Vaelion City..."
Catherine's expression was complicated. She looked steadily at Isabella, her tone heavy. "Isabella, let me ask you. If Serena had lost today, would you have let her off? Would you have spoken up for her and canceled the bet just because she's a Lancaster?"
Isabella immediately nodded, about to blurt out, "I would."
But before the words could leave her mouth.
Catherine had already cut her off, her gaze growing deeper and more complex, tinged with pain and
disappointment. "No, Isabella, yon et
wouldn't. If you would have, you wouldn't have let Karen propose such a humiliating bet in the first place From the bottom of your heart, you believed... Serena was inferior to you. You wanted to wait and see her humiliated, to laugh at her, didn't you?"
The words Isabella was about to say got stuck in her throat.
Her mouth moved, but under the seemingly all-seeing gazes of her family, her face
turned deathly pale.
Julian pushed up his gold-rimmed
glasses, his voice quiet. "The
Lancaster family's reputation is built on integrity and responsibility. If you. renege and run away today, that is what will truly make everyone look down on the Lancaster family and question our character. Who would dare to trust and cooperate with the Lancaster family in the future?"
Isabella's lips trembled again.
She looked at her family, at their complicated expressions, seeing they had no intention of helping her.
Her heart felt as if it were being pricked by countless needles, a dense pain that threatened to consume her body.
They were clearly biased toward Serena.
They just wanted her to be humiliated so Serena could use her as a stepping stone!
They just wanted to watch her be disgraced, to watch her lose all face in Vaelion City's high society, all to pave the way for Serena!